Meta India's workforce finds itself in a precarious state following the tech giant's decision to let go of 11,000 employees worldwide.
In a significant development, Ajit Mohan, the head of Meta India, has announced his resignation from the company. This news comes amidst a wave of layoffs and regulatory challenges facing the tech giant and its teams in the Indian market.
Mohan joined Meta in January 2019 from Hotstar, and during his tenure, the India team of Meta, which operates Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, experienced substantial growth. However, the team has been affected by recent layoffs, with Meta Platforms Ltd announcing the termination of more than 11,000 employees worldwide, representing 13% of its workforce. The exact current size of Meta's teams in India after the latest layoffs is not specified.
The smallest team in India among these tech giants is WhatsApp, with over 60 employees. Meta's India teams currently consist of an estimated 300-400 employees.
The controversy surrounding Mohan's resignation follows the resignation of Facebook's then policy head Ankhi Das in October 2020. During Mohan's tenure, Facebook faced criticism for allegedly favoring ruling party leaders on the platform.
The Indian government has recently announced strict rules for social media platforms, including the establishment of appellate panels to handle complaints from users against decisions of these platforms. This move is part of a broader effort to regulate the tech industry in India, a crucial growth engine for US-based companies, including Meta, Twitter, Alphabet Inc's Google, and others.
The financial woes of these companies have been exacerbated by increased costs, a grim outlook for online advertising, and an economic downturn. Meta published its first quarterly profit decrease in history this summer, followed by another, larger decrease in the fall. Elon Musk, the new owner of Twitter, has stated that Twitter is losing $4 million per day.
Despite these challenges, these companies experienced financial growth during the Covid pandemic lockdown period as more people used their platforms. India has 53 crore WhatsApp users, 44.8 crore YouTube users, 41 crore Facebook users, 21 crore Instagram users, and 1.75 crore Twitter users.
As the tech industry navigates these challenges, it remains to be seen how these changes will impact the future of social media in India and the role of these companies in the Indian market.
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